Forged Dreams
by nowyouseemenowyoudont
Summary: Kagome's life has never been easy per say, more often than not bumps have been encountered along the road... but Sesshoumaru isn't a bump; he's a mountain.
1. The Crescent Moon

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Chapter One: The Crescent Moon

"Kagome-neesan!"

Pausing in her dutiful sweeping of the entranceway to the sword smith's, Kagome brought up a hand to shield her eyes from the last rays of the setting sun as she squinted out at the distant orange speck that was Chouko -chan.

"Slow down, Chouko," she cajoled, setting the broom against the wall, "you'll trip and hurt yourself."

Chouko, who had picked up the hem of her kimono and brought it about her knees in a highly unladylike fashion so that she could run unimpeded, laughed at the suggestion. Her bright orange shorts were clearly visible due to the wardrobe adjustment and Kagome rolled her eyes. As much as Chouko liked dressing in the chequered kimono that Kagome had given her, she always wore her shorts underneath.

"Look," she said, holding out the hem and exposing the wares that had been nestled inside, "they were selling raspberries at the convenience store!"

Kagome frowned, though an indulgent smile played on her lips, "And the soy sauce I sent you for?"

Chouko's eyes grew wide. "Oops, I forgot."

"Hm," Kagome pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips, "I suppose that at least it was raspberries and not chocolate you bought."

Chouko's little face blossomed into a hopeful smile and Kagome tussled the girl's hair mussing her sloppy side ponytail.

"Chouko-kun!" a boy from her class skidded to a halt on his bike next to them and grinned hugely, "Come and play."

Chouko sent a hopeful look Kagome's way and the older girl just about melted under the force of those puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," Kagome sighed, "but change out of your kimono first, I don't need you to ruin another one!"

Chouko grinned cheekily and made quick work of her obi and kimono, revealing her t-shirt and shorts that had been stowing away underneath the more formal garments. Kagome caught the kimono and obi as they fluttered towards her with a nostalgic sigh.

"I remember when I was as carefree as Chouko -chan," she murmured to the figure reclining against the wall of the sword smith's.

Beneath the shadow that his _sugegasa _provided, a fanged smirk played at his lips. "Feeling the urge to go climb a tree?"

Kagome grinned and swatted at his legs with her broom, though he dodged her 'attack' easily. "Climb a tree, ride a Hanyou's back as he raced through the country side, watch a pink bubble-kitsune fly away into the sunset..." she relayed, a nostalgic lilt to her voice as she watched the little dot that was Chouko riding on her friends bike disappear into the distance.

The man groaned. "I keep telling you to stop bringing that up! It was all I could do back then!"

Blue eyes slanted mischievously in his direction. "Oh? All you could do? I seem to remember you used to do a pretty good albatross... with a very pretty turquoise bow!"

Standing abruptly at the teasing, Shippo pouted, turquoise eyes twinkling as he tipped back his _sugegasa _to look down his nose at her.

Bopping his _sugegasa _off his head so that it hung around his neck on its silk ribbon, Kagome scolded. "Don't you look down your nose at me, Shippo-kun!"

Now an adult Kitsune by anyone's standards, Shippo dwarfed Kagome easily. His hair had grown longer, his tails had multiplied to five and he wielded dual dao swords with great precision and a slight hint of cockiness.

"It's kind of easy, Kagome-chan," he grinned foxily, "when you're so little." He patted her head condescendingly.

Rolling up her sleeves in a dangerous manner she hefted the broom over her head and chased him back into the house.

Shippo, laughing heartily at her pursuit that reminded him of the past, escaped Kagome by ducking into the little garden and, turning around mid-sprint, poked his tongue out at her.

"Shippo, watch out!" she squeaked, wincing at the Kitsune tripped over an unfortunately placed rock, her helping hand meant that she got dragged down with him.

They skidded a short distance like that, Kagome sprawled across Shippo's chest, until they ground to a halt just before they reached the _shishi odoshi_, that made a timely clank.

"You tripped on purpose," she accused suspiciously, well aware of the Yokai's superior balance and agility.

Shippo grinned sheepishly and she growled at him. "You're such a child!"

"Sorry, Kagome," he murmured as she rolled off the sprawled Kitsune to sit beside him on the grass.

"Chouko will be pleased at your visit," Kagome opined tracing a pattern in the grass with her littlest finger.

Shippo grinned, exposing razor sharp canines. "Cute kid," he acknowledged, "she's always had a thing for my spinning top magic." Shrewd eyes slanted in Kagome's direction. "You continuously pick up orphans, huh?"

Kagome wrinkled her nose at the suggestion. "It's not like that... they just need me is all."

"Don't you think Chouko looks a lot like—"

"Yes," Kagome interrupted quickly, "but I look after Chouko because she is Chouko."

The ringing of the phone snapped them from their impromptu conversation and Shippo watched with concerned eyes as Kagome scurried into the house to answer it.

It had been a long time since their misadventures in the past, five hundred years about; enough that Kagome had been able to contact her mother again, though she'd never moved back to the family shrine.

They had thought that the final battle with Naraku would be the end of their turmoil. But apparently it had been the beginning of their problems. A flighty Inuyasha had meant that Kagome's dreams of a happily ever after had eroded away like a cliff face against the ocean and then an even more troublesome problem had happened upon them.

It had snuck up upon them slowly at first, but then they had all been led to believe with absolute certainty that something was wrong with Kagome. She wasn't aging.

Whether it was the time travelling or the shikon jewel or some act of kami, no one knew. Hypotheses could be made but it hadn't helped the apparently immortal Miko one whit. She'd hung around the village longer than Inuyasha had, enough time to see three generations of Miroku and Sango's children grow up. But then she'd relocated.

In her own words 'watching death whilst being unable to live is too painful'. Kagome had somehow ended up living with and working for Totosai, for reasons that escaped Shippo. He'd found them years later, Totosai had even adjusted to making normal human swords in order to deal with the rapid decline in the demonic population.

Now, in twenty-first century Japan, they existed in one of the less densely populated villages still operating under the guise of a human sword smith's though their clientele had become fewer in number, people were willing to pay a pretty penny for the best made _katana_ in Japan. Totosai remained as elusive as ever, often leaving their traditional little Japanese home to bask in the mountains with Momo. Not that he had been the front man of his business for a long time; people much preferred Kagome's smiles to Totosai's obscurities.

Picking himself up off the grass, Shippo brushed clinging blades of grass from his black _hakama_ and made his way into the house. Kagome sat in _seiza_ in one corner, holding the phone to her ear.

"Yes, mama, I know," she murmured, absently flicking Shippo a shrewd glance over her shoulder, accompanied by a small shooing motion of her wrist.

Shippo waited patiently until Kagome had hung up, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. "Your mother?"

Kagome rubbed her temples with her fingers, eyes closed as if that might help her escape from the world. "Yeah, she wanted me to come home..."

"She always wants you to come home, she's your mother, she loves you," Shippo murmured, brows furrowed in concern.

One eye opened to peer at him. "My place is here now," she told him sternly, "I go to visit all the time... but this is my home."

Deciding not to press the matter, Shippo cast around for another topic and landed upon the convenient one of Totosai. "Where is the old coot?"

Kagome smiled at the mention of the sword smith and shrugged blithely. "Somewhere in the mountains probably, apparently Momo likes it there."

"What about this place?" he asked, gesturing at the shop front that cloaked the front of the large traditional home.

"I run it whilst he'd not here," she explained, "I have four hundred years of experience... you _and_ Totosai have always been ones for wandering off randomly."

Shippo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm a fox, Kagome, I roam."

"You also womanise," Kagome scolded, pointing an accusing finger at the Kitsune, "Sango and I predicted that Miroku had rubbed off on you when you were tiny."

Shippo scoffed, lowering himself to sprawl on his side on the tatami matting. "I have more finesse than him."

Kagome giggled helplessly. "That much is a given."

0-0-0

Late that night, Kagome carefully arranged a blanket around the sleeping Chouko who had curled up to Shippo's side. They might quite a pair, sleeping off the affects of an afternoon spent spinning tops and showcasing Kitsune magic.

Switching off the television that the pair had left on, she backed out of the room quietly, slippers shuffling against the tatami mats. In her sleeping yukata, she made her way along the corridor, glancing outside at the crescent moon that basked in the sky, she caught the gaze of a crow, sat atop one of the trees in the garden.

"Ne, _Karasu_-san, are you an ill omen?" she asked softly.

The crow blinked at her, once, twice, and then spread its wings and departed from the garden. She smiled softly as she shuffled down the corridor to her room. An ill omen? She was thinking too much about a random animal. It didn't mean anything.

The crescent moon lit her way as she entered her room, and she shut the sliding door on the moon, and the unbidden memories it brought with it.

If I can survive, then surely Sesshoumaru-sama did too...

Shaking that errant thought away quickly, she climbed onto her futon.

_Why on earth am I thinking of Sesshoumaru?_ She couldn't remember the last time the stoic demon lord had occupied her thoughts.

Downstairs, a pile of unopened mail sat on a little table in the hallway. Beneath the little pile of mail hid a small envelope.

An envelope that was sealed...

With a crescent moon.

A/N: Written for Nisou Tenshi's Fourteen symbols challenge, prompt: Crow. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!


	2. A Nostalgic Future

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

**A Nostalgic Future**

With a mouthful of clothes pegs pressed between her lips, Kagome rolled her eyes at the insistent dinging of the shops bell. Apparently someone was attempting to garner her attention. People in this day and age were far too impatient, she reflected as she finished hanging the futons out on the line and picked up her basket. Stepping back into the house, she carefully picked up the random items of clothing destined for the washing machine, her sleeves tied back so that movement wasn't hindered, her hair tied out of her eyes. The more the impatient customer insisted on dinging the infernal bell and creating a racket, the longer Kagome wished to delay them.

Finally, when the dinging got so frequent she began to worry about the poor bell, she loaded the washing machine quickly and hurried on through to the store front.

A thin pointy man with a spiteful glint to his spectacles and rather sharp elbows stood in the store, jabbing the bell repeatedly with his bony finger, his other hand holding his phone to his ear.

He talked in a drone, words so fast that Kagome could catch only spiteful words every now and then.

He continued to press the bell belligerently as she approached the desk and she pointedly covered it with her hand.

"_Irasshaimase__, _How can I help you, _Okyaku_-san?" she asked politely.

He hung up with pointed snap of his phone and a perilous quiver of his bottom lip. "I am here to collect Ito-sama's order," he sniffed, looking down his rather long nose at Kagome.

Kagome nodded with a respect that this rude person certainly didn't deserve. "Just a moment," she murmured, ducking back through the flap and into the storage space of the shop where Totosai liked to keep the orders that were ready for pick up.

"Ito... Ito," she murmured as she perused the shelves, "Ah! So that's where you were hiding!"

Taking the wrapped katana carefully from its resting place with dutiful care; Totosai would have a fit if he caught her swinging one of his precious weapons around like it was a stick. _Heaven forbid_.

"Here you are," she hummed, laying the katana on the counter and removing the little name pin from the fabric used to wrap it.

Sniffing like she'd just told him his suit was a knock-off, he whisked it from the counter and flounced from the little store without so much as another word.

"Good riddance," she mumbled under her breath, idly wondering whether she should brew herself some of the new jasmine tea she'd purchased at the convenience store.

Heralded by the tinkling of the shop bell, the gust of wind that accompanied her visitor swept her loose hair around her face and strew the freshly swept porch with cherry blossoms.

"_Irasshaimase," _she greeted dutifully as she extricated her hair from her eyes. But when she met the gaze of her latest customer, she felt obliged to attempt to part her hair again, because surely her eyes were deceiving her.

"No way," she gasped, knuckles turning white as she gripped the counter with enough force that the wood was in danger of splintering.

The stranger peered at her over his expensive looking spectacles, his eyebrows had initially furrowed as if in surprise, but his expression smoothed over so fast she was unsure that she'd even seen it.

"Hn," he murmured, clearing away any doubt as to whether this person in the expensive suit, silky braid and designer spectacles was Sesshoumaru. Unlike the cherry blossoms that had heralded his arrival, it appeared that Sesshoumaru's beauty was not fleeting; he was as beautiful now as he had been when he'd attempted to melt her. Though now there was an absence of killing intent for which she was incredibly grateful.

Though his hair had once been spun silver it was now an ordinary brown, though his markings had once rode proud on his forehead and cheeks they were now notably absent and though golden eyes were unheard of, his remained the golden that they had always been. It seemed Sesshoumaru believed in hiding his true nature up until a certain point, strange that he would refuse to glamour his eyes, but maybe a different colour would make his glare less effective?

"We've swapped places," she twittered nervously, gesturing anxiously between the two of them, "once upon a time I wore modern clothes and you traditional."

Sesshoumaru's eyes tightened around the corners, as if fighting an impulse to laugh… or maybe she was hallucinating and he just had an itchy nose. Shaking her head fiercely as her mind threatened to wander off on another tangent, she sought to fill the silence.

"So, why are you showing up here out of the blue?" she asked, fingers twisting together and then untwisting nervously.

Blinking blandly, he spoke calmly, unhurried, quite the contrast to the bumbling Kagome, "I sent a letter."

It was her turn to blink in mute astonishment, not because she doubted Sesshoumaru's word, but because if it was very hard to fit the ruthless lord she had once known into the shoes of a twenty-first century businessman, it was even harder to imagine him sitting down to right her a letter.

"We didn't receive any letter," she murmured nervously.

Golden eyes flitted to the rickety pile of unopened mail teetering precariously on the edge of the counter.

"Or maybe we did," she reconsidered anxiously, crossing the floor so the pile of mail that had been attempting to climb to the ceiling in Totosai's absence. Finding Sesshoumaru's letter was easy; it was the only letter with a wax seal in the shape of a crescent moon.

Yet, as she went to break the seal, a de-clawed hand – attached to a non-striped wrist – closed around her wrist and she found the letter had been whisked from between her fingers.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" she inquired bemusedly.

Releasing her wrist in a motion that was almost gentle, he slipped the letter into the breast pocket of his suit under the confused stare from her blue eyes.

"It is for Totosai alone," he expounded minutely, his left eyebrow raising a fraction of an inch in inquiry, "where is he?"

Kagome peered over Sesshoumaru's shoulder, as if expecting the old sword smith to appear as if conjured by Sesshoumaru's presence alone. It became apparent that he wasn't there fairly quickly and feeling slightly silly she met Sesshoumaru's gaze, ignoring the quirked eyebrow that seemed to call into question her sanity.

"In the mountains somewhere," she hedged loosely, an airy wave of one of her arms as a vague accompaniment.

Sesshoumaru blinked blandly and she froze onto the spot in confusion as he lifted the counter top to one side and walked right on through as if he owned the place. Once he was on the same side as her, he dropped the counter top with a snap that made Kagome jump just a little and she settled into the unnerving feeling that her only security blanket had gone. At least, up until that point she'd had the counter as a – rather flimsy – barrier between them it had helped calm her somewhat as simple minded as that was. But now she felt rather on edge.

Probing with a rather unsettling intensity, his golden eyes perused her light blue kimono, taking in the careful knot of her darker blue obi with a practised eye. Randomly, she wondered if this was what been put under a microscope felt like, and as he lifted a tendril of her loose hair to his nose and inhaled, she lost her grip on reality.

_Sesshoumaru is sniffing my hair…_

_In a suit no less!_

So, she'd obviously fallen into a parallel universe where instead of melting mikos, Taiyokai sniffed mikos. Of course.

Snapping out of her stupor, she refocused her eyes only to discover he was disorientating on the opposite side of the counter again. Either she was having hallucinations or he was deliberately messing with her mind.

It turned out that it wasn't the latter; he'd merely taken a short break from sniffing a bemused Miko to collect the laptop case he'd brought into the store with him. However, the jury was still out on the former argument; she could very well be having an extremely vivid hallucination. Strangely, she was a little miffed; she'd always hoped that if she'd had a hallucination it would have been the sort that involved pink dancing elephants rather than possibly homicidal demons.

Grasping a firm reign over her vocal chords that seemed to have abandoned her moments prior, she managed to squawk, sounding frighteningly like Jaken, "What are you doing?" as he came back around to her side of the counter.

She feared the bland blink he offered would be his only answer, but apparently he was being chatty today. "I will wait."

"For what?" she asked, tilting her head and blinking frantically in bemusement.

"Totosai's return," he stated, inflecting in a way that made it clear he thought her a fool for not figuring it out.

"Here?" she ventured tentatively, tucking her hair behind her ears and wringing her fingers together anxiously.

"Indeed."

"B-but, that could be months!" she exclaimed, eyes wide at the thought of Sesshoumaru staying in their modest traditional house. Fretfully she recalled that the three spare bedrooms all had leaky roofs. She couldn't let Sesshoumaru stay in a room with a leaky roof!

"I am immortal," Sesshoumaru pointed out blandly. Kagome winced, of course, what was a month to an immortal? The only reason it seemed like a long time to her was because she was used to Chouko.

The cherry blossoms had lied; _this_ beauty wasn't fleeting, in fact he was planning on staying.

A/N: This was written for Nisou Tenshi's Fourteen symbol challenge for the prompt cherry blossom. Hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Old Faces

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

**Old Faces**

Kagome was leery of letting Sesshoumaru into her home, and as she stood in the doorway with her arms outstretched to bar his entrance, her teeth worried her bottom lip and her eyebrows bunched together contemplatively.

It wasn't that she didn't trust him not to murder them all in their beds – Sesshoumaru was the sort of person who would see attacking a mostly defenceless group as cowardice – it was more that he made her feel like a bumbling teenager again. That, and the house was a mess after Shippo and Chouko's late night magic tricks and pizza binging.

But, whilst she was lost in thought, Sesshoumaru had already slipped under her outstretched arm and waltzed right on into her house. Kagome rolled her eyes at his broad back; how very like Sesshoumaru to stride ahead instead of being led inside.

Darting to his side, she surreptitiously attempted to straighten the place up a little. Having her dirty laundry on show for Sesshoumaru, literally, was not something Kagome had ever conceived of as something that would happen to her. But now it was becoming reality.

"You really can't stay here," she forbade him, though it sounded a lot like she was pleading with him, "You have no luggage!"

Sesshoumaru continued to stride through the house, not even bothering to glance back over his shoulder, he bluntly informed her, "My luggage is in my car."

Startled by this revelation, though perhaps a car was a more socially acceptable mode of transport that a fluffy cloud, Kagome serrupticiously peered outside through the little window. Indeed, he had brought his car; it was a giant, shiny, black monolith of an automobile and had drawn a crowd of local teenage boys to it, like wasps to honey. They circled it, not touching it as if they would sully its perfection, and speculated on the owner of such a vehicle in awed hushed tones. Kagome drew the curtains jerkily and hurled an uncharitable glare at the demonic intruder's back.

The glare cooled considerably as she watched him stare at a picture of Chouko's that she'd framed and hung on the wall. It had won the girl an art prize at school and she was hugely proud of it.

At last, he turned back to look at her, some guarded emotion flickering in his eyes as he casually inquired, "You have adopted yet another stray, Miko?"

Kagome would have bristled at his somewhat callus words had it not been for the minute tightening of his eyes. The casually mocking tone he employed was not reflecting of the turmoil she knew he must be feelings.

"I'm not the only one who used to pick up strays," she cajoled lightly, hands settling on hips mock-sternly, "You were just as bad as me."

"Hn."

"How noncommittal of you," Kagome niggled exasperatedly; seriously Inu and their grunts! She despaired at their warped communication skills, Inuyasha had been the same even though he'd favoured striking a different note than that of his brother.

Sesshoumaru taped gently against the glass, the clink of claw meeting glass a subtle reminder that whilst hidden, he still retained his animalistic deadliness.

Kagome smiled indulgently at the... wistful expression on his face. You had to concentrate... and squint just right to see it, but Kagome liked to think it was there. "Chouko is my adopted daughter, and, yes, she drew that. Won a competition actually." Tilting her head to one side, she queried innocently, "Do you like it?"

Sesshoumaru blinked as if startled by the inquiry and he flung her a look of irked surprise before turning his gaze back to the picture. "It is not displeasing to the eye."

Chuckling into her hand, Kagome responded kindly, "High praise indeed."

A crease developed between Sesshoumaru's eyes that she inexplicably found adorable, though she'd never dare to tell him so. Puzzled, he looked puzzled; as if he didn't know quite how to respond to jokey banter.

"Kagome-neechan!" a cheerful voice bid as a steady patter of footsteps against floors became apparent.

The sliding door slid back roughly and Chouko took a turn as if to tumble as she stepped on the hem of her kimono. But before an impact with the floor could be made, her shoulder was caught by Sesshoumaru and he very carefully righted her.

"Thanks, Onii-chan," she chirped, beaming up at him toothily, not seeming to mind in the least that he was staring at her as if shell-shocked.

"Chouko-chan!" Kagome remonstrated carefully gathering the girl into her arms a safe distance away from Sesshoumaru; he looked like he was liable to explode.

Chouko, either oblivious to the edgy undercurrent in the room or adept at ignoring such things, ploughed straight on into what she wanted to say. "Look!" she bid Kagome, holding up her palm proudly, "I fell over," she explained, when she saw Kagome's baffled look at the bandage across her palm, "but Ken-kun's Mama gave me this bandage, isn't it good?"

Kagome grinned at the little girl, who now sported two butterfly bandages on each hand where she'd skinned her palms. "You didn't go out to play in your kimono, did you?"

Chouko shook her head adamantly. "Last time I did that I ruined my favourite," she pointed out, "but Mama, you're missing the point!"

"I am?" Kagome asked wryly.

"Yeah," Chouko remonstrated, "Ken-kun's mama said that it was especially for me because I'm a butterfly child!"

"That is your name," Kagome admitted indulgently.

"You gave me my name, right mama?"

Tugging gently on the sloppy side ponytail her daughter wore, Kagome nodded. "Because when I first brought you home you chased the shadows of the falling leaves on the paper doors; you were as energetic and erratic as any butterfly. Plus you would chase the butterflies around the garden given half the chance... and then you ate them."

"No way!" Chouko denied, aghast, "but I love butterflies, there's no way that happened mama."

"It's true!" Kagome vowed, "And maybe you love butterflies now, but back then you loved the taste of them more."

Chouko made a face and stuck her tongue out. "Ew, no way."

Giving her daughter the once over, she noted that the girl was wearing her wellington boots instead of her usual sandals or trainers. "You making a fashion statement."

Preening and pointing her toes in her wellington boots, Chouko nodded. "Shippo-oniichan said he'd take me fishing, but that I had to get wellington boots and ask you."

"Sure, rustle us up something good for tea," Kagome allowed and was rewarded with a quick peck to the cheek before the girl scampered back to the door. In the threshold, she paused to glance back at their visitor. "Bye, Onii-san!"

Sesshoumaru merely nodded and continued to stare at the place she had been for a long time after she had disappeared.

Kagome wrung her fingers anxiously. "Sesshoumaru?"

Blinking for the first time since the girl had entered the room, he simply uttered. "Rin."

Kagome smiled sadly, knowingly, and indicated that he should take a seat. "I'll make us some tea."

Kagome noted that whilst Sesshoumaru sat in perfect _seiza_, no hint of a slouch, and clasped the steaming teacup tightly with both hands, he neither took a sip nor moved his gaze from the picture of toddler-Chouko that Kagome had brought over from the less formal sitting room.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, sipping a little tea, "I probably should have warned you but I didn't expect her to appear like that."

"She first called you 'Kagome-neesan' and then she reverted to 'Mama," he commented hollowly.

Kagome nodded, glancing at the desk. "Outside these walls she's too old to be my daughter. I look around eighteen and she's eight."

"Eight? She appears younger."

"She's always been a small child," Kagome shrugged blithely, waiting for him to get to the point he obviously wanted to make.

"The likeness?"

"Is purely coincidental," Kagome assured him, "Chouko is Chouko, Rin was Rin. That's all there is to it."

"Reincarnation?"

"No, I checked."

"How?" Sesshoumaru inquired, intrigued despite his stunned stupor.

"Totosai plays Shogi with an old soothsayer, he told me so."

"You trust the word of an acquaintance of Totosai?"

Kagome smiled indulgently. "Chikao-ojiisan is a wise old man; I've put my faith in him."

"You have put your faith in untrustworthy places before, Miko."

Kagome flinched, offended and hurt by this prickly statement. She'd hoped he wouldn't bring up her past with Inuyasha but apparently it was a foolish hope indeed.

"Rin was yours, but Chouko is not Rin. She is mine," Kagome hissed, leaning across the table dangerously, "I am her mother and I refuse to let you stay in this house if you continue to compare her to Rin. I know how living in the shadow of someone hurts; I will not allow you to do it to her."

Sesshoumaru's eyes flashed and he leaned in dangerously. "You think I would hurt her?" he whispered, the quiet level tone he used carrying more threat than if he had shouted.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Not intentionally... but... I need you to promise me. Sesshoumaru, please. She's my daughter and I love her."

Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth. He still felt insulted by her distrust in him but he was intelligent and knew that her reasons for making him give his word were good ones. He knew Rin wasn't Chouko, no matter how closely the two resembled each other. Chouko was infinitely chattier than Rin, had a slightly wider mouth than Rin and smelt completely different to Rin.

"You have my word."

A/N: This was written for Nisou Tenshi's Fourteen symbol challenge for the prompt butterfly. Hope you enjoyed it!


	4. A Sense of Normalcy

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

**A Sense of Normalcy**

A certain sense of normalcy settled on the household after the initially bumpy first fortnight of Sesshoumaru's stay. Shippo and Sesshoumaru had been... pointed with each other, to the point where dokkasu and foxfire were summoned, but never used, thanks to Kagome's stubborn interventions. But that had somehow calmed down after Chouko had told them if they didn't stop she'd cut off their ponytails whilst they were sleeping. It hadn't been the absurd threat, per say, that had made them yield on their prickly debates, more the frustrated tears that they couldn't 'shake hands and play nice like sensei said she had to'.

Sesshoumaru had moved into the room in between Kagome's and Shippo's, claiming it because the sun shone directly into it in the mornings and he liked to wake up at dawn. Kagome had been deeply apologetic about the room being extremely leaky – the leakiest room in the house – and Shippo had needled Sesshoumaru about being a neko afraid of water. Sesshoumaru had sniffed in disdain, bartered a ladder of their old lady next door neighbour who was obviously quite smitten by him and fixed the roof himself. He'd drawn quite a crowd in the process.

After all, who didn't stop whatever they were doing to gawk at the veritable shirtless Adonis fixing a roof? Kagome was quite perturbed when old man Kamenosuke was determined to be the source of the wolf whistling but Sesshoumaru's only problem was that he needed to use a ladder and couldn't just use his cloud. Kagome had vetoed that idea when he'd proposed it, telling him very gently that people couldn't fly on their own unless they were a bird. He'd patted her head then, and Kagome was a little miffed to realise he'd been teasing her. Of course he knew he had to abide by human rules, he'd lived this long hadn't he?

The household had accommodated his daily kendo practises by loaning him an old room full of junk that Totosai had accumulated over the many years he'd been alive. God knows what the old buffoon was doing with all of the really strange junk. It wasn't the sort of stuff that one expected to find preserved. Mostly it was an accumulation of old rocks, piles upon piles of shoji boards and many other odds and ends. Once Sesshoumaru had cleared it out – with the sort of relish that perturbed Kagome slightly – he claimed it as his makeshift dojo and could often be found in there in the mornings, where he would practise until the others came down for breakfast.

Sesshoumaru had also reverted to a more traditional garb whilst residing with them. Apparently he had decided that if everyone else in the household was going to do it he might as well do the same. His hankering to don his old garb had been rejected by both Kagome and Shippo, for the reasoning that if he wore priceless white demon silks, Chouko, with her grass stained knees, mud stained feet and paint stained hands wouldn't be able to use him as a demon climbing frame as she seemed to enjoy doing. So instead he had donned a rather demure yet soft navy blue hakama and haori.

Living in their home meant he wasn't except from his share of the housework and Chouko and Kagome too great delight in tying a bandana in his hair and a pink apron around his middle on Saturdays when they all had to clean. Sesshoumaru had demanded that Shippo tell him how he got out of wearing a pink apron and a bandana, Shippo told him smugly that it was simply because he went shopping instead. Sesshoumaru had since tried to switch jobs with the cunning fox, but to no avail. Shippo said he would be all too happy to swap, if Sesshoumaru would only say please.

Sesshoumaru resigned himself to the apron.

But, on the third week of living together, Kagome and Shippo became far too curious for their own good.

"I don't know!" Kagome threw at the Kitsune lounging against the kitchen counter, turning her back on him to stir their meal briskly.

"But it's really annoying not knowing," Shippo whined as if he was a kit again, green eyes narrowing sulkily.

"If he wanted us to know then he'd tell us!" Kagome exclaimed exasperatedly as she began to fill the dishes with their evening meal, "Lay the table please Shippo-kun."

Dutifully acquiescing to her demands Shippo helped her lay out their dinner on the table before poking his head around the sliding door out into their garden, "Chouko-chan, food!"

Kagome took her seat and watched as Shippo took his opposite her. He leant on his elbows and glanced upwards. "I'll ask him, then."

"No!" Kagome shrieked panicked at the notion, "If he wanted us to know he'd tell us!" she insisted.

Shippo shook his head at her apathetically. "I think Sesshoumaru is the type of person who wouldn't tell us unless we asked him," he opined as Chouko came in the backdoor, slipped off her sandals and donned her slippers.

"Smells good, Mama. I found you flowers!"

"Thank you," Kagome smiled at her, taking the assorted pretty weeds and wildflowers and carefully fitting them into the peony covered vase that sat in the middle of the table. She turned to Shippo once more, "I don't think so, he's a very private person."

Shippo groaned, slumping in his _seiza_ unhappily. "But I need to know."

"You are really too curious for your own good," Kagome cajoled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You are too, Kagome-chan!"

"Not as recklessly as you," Kagome pointed out as she handed Chouko her bowl piled high with rice.

Sesshoumaru chose this moment to enter the kitchen silently and take his assigned seat next to Kagome and opposite Chouko in silence.

"Itadakimasu," Kagome, Shippo and Chouko chorused, Sesshoumaru managing to mumble an approximation of it, before they all tucked in to Kagome's food. Not an excellent cook by any means, Kagome had long ago decided that to ensure no one ever died from her food she'd only make simple dishes that she knew very well, as a result all of the food she made nowadays was palatable at the very least.

Kagome and Sesshoumaru chewed in silence, Chouko sung a soft song under her breath that Kagome recognised as the song the old lady next door sung when she hung her laundry out and Shippo sat regarding Sesshoumaru shrewdly. Kagome wished he wouldn't, but she knew Shippo well enough to know that he would. Definitely.

"So, Sesshoumaru-san," Shippo began, tone laced with a politeness that was as brittle as his casual smile, "What do you do for work?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Pass the soy sauce, please, Chouko-chan."

Sesshoumaru's eyes were cool as they regarded the meddling fox demon. "What is it to you, Kitsune?"

Shippo frowned at not getting his answer, green eyes narrowing, he replied, "You've been here for a while and Kagome and I were wondering."

"Don't bring me into this," Kagome mumbled, pushing more vegetables onto the protesting Chouko's plate. "They're good for you, Chouko-chan."

"They're disgusting," Chouko pouted.

"I see no reason to answer," Sesshoumaru sniffed.

Shippo growled low in his chest. "Stop being such a difficult basta— idiot and answer the question!" he ordered, casting a hasty glance at Chouko to see if she'd caught his language. Kagome glowered at him and he smiled sheepishly.

"Sesshoumaru-oniichan has a nice car," Chouko commented as she slurped her noodles, "so he must have a really good job, right?"

"Don't talk with your mouthful, Chouko-chan," Kagome cajoled.

"Sorry."

Sesshoumaru blinked blandly at the little girl who sat there swinging her legs and slurping her noodles as she patiently waited for his answer. "I am a... mangaka."

Shippo nearly fell out of his chair in shock. "_You_?"

Kagome, who had discretely choked at this startling proclamation, cleared her throat. "What kind?"

He named a few names and this time it was Kagome's turn to nearly fall out of her seat in shock. "Those are some of the most popular manga in existence!"

He gave her a look as if to say 'so what?' and continued to steadily feed rice into his mouth.

"Well, that's kind of a letdown," Shippo grouched, leaning back on his chair nonchalantly, "I expected you to say assassin or something."

Sesshoumaru's lip curled. "And you? Do you actually do anything?"

Shippo's chair crashed back down onto four legs and he had the decency to look very sheepish. "I dabble."

"Which is a roundabout way of saying you do nothing of worth," Sesshoumaru sniped disparagingly, eyes slanting mockingly at the Kitsune.

Shippo fumed silently, unable to retort not only due to the fact that the only comebacks he could come up with were foolish but also due to the glare he was receiving from Kagome, not to mention the swift kick under the table that she blessed him with.

"Shippo taught me to fish," Chouko interjected blithely, holding a piece of broccoli with her chopsticks and eyeing it distastefully, as if it had done her a disservice. "And he taught me to juggle," she added as an afterthought.

"A kitten clown," Sesshoumaru grumbled disdainfully. Shippo growled and tossed a handful of rice at the uptight Taiyokai, who dodged the sticky missile and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Kagome glowered at the rice as it slid down the wall gloopily and Chouko's mouth popped open audibly in amazement.

"Shippo-oniichan threw his food!" she carolled in a sing-song voice, clapping her hands together ecstatically.

Shippo's lips curved mockingly at the Inu. "What's the matter, too scared to retaliate?"

"Oh, no, Sesshoumaru! Don't you dare retaliate!" Kagome interjected querulously, but her pleading fell on deaf ears as Sesshoumaru hefted an onigiri.

Soon, what had once been a tranquil dinner scene devolved into something resembling a food hurricane. Due to the speed in which the two full blooded demons commenced their food fight, Kagome and Chouko could only hold up trays as makeshift shields and pray that it would be over soon. Onigiri whizzed overhead, noodles were tossed and vegetables were flung in a steadily increasing haze of food.

But, as the peony vase was hit by an errant onigiri and tumbled from the table, Kagome's temper, which had been steadily fraying the longer the fight had continued, snapped. Throwing herself across the table, she unfortunately only managed to catch it on its first bounce as it smashed into two distinct halves. Gathering the two shards to her chest, she straightened slowly.

Climbing to her feet, she smiled creepily, her purification powers crackling across her skin like pink electricity. The maelstrom of food stopped at once, Sesshoumaru and Shippo halting as one and turning slowly, to face her.

"Chouko-chan," Kagome called out sweetly to the little girl who peered up at her mother from under her tray-shield with a huge grin on her face, "go to your room and play."

"But, Mama, I want to see them be told off!"

"Please."

"Okay!" Chouko shrugged indifferently, with a parting shot of, "you two are so dead."

The two she was referring to were soon under the brunt of Kagome's wrath. Shippo, who had begun to attempt an escape and who was also the one responsible for initiating the entire fight got the lecture first.

"And," she finished up, still clutching the halves of the vase to her chest, "you will be the one who will singlehandedly clean this entire room."

Shippo, who had prostrated himself in front of her in a necessary defence against her raise raised his head to respond but the manic glint in her eyes made him bite his tongue.

Turning to face Sesshoumaru, who had, up until now, leant against the wall and taken a perverse delight in Shippo's scolding, Kagome sighed.

The fight drained from her, shoulders slumping, head hanging, eyes drooping. "Sesshoumaru..."

Sesshoumaru wasn't sure what on earth he was supposed to do here, he'd been ready for her to read him the riot act as she had Shippo, knowing full well that he's be able to dismiss it as the inane ramblings of a lunatic human woman. But this... he didn't know how to deal with this.

"Enough," she mumbled sadly, putting the halves of the vase down on the food-slathered surface of the table morosely.

Sesshoumaru was left stood there, perplexed and perturbed.

"Wow," Shippo muttered, "tough break."

"She is incomprehensible."

"Nah," Shippo waved Sesshoumaru's comment off, "she's a mother. She knows exactly how to deal with a kid like me; with punishment like cleaning. And, she also knows that the only way to deal with a kid like you is to be disappointed in you, therefore taking away your powers of dismissal. You can't belittle her by ignoring her angry lecture, because she didn't give you one. Instead she gave you a nice dose of guilt."

"I am not a child," Sesshoumaru sniffed disdainfully.

Shippo snorted. "Dude, we just had a food fight."

Sesshoumaru blinked. The Kitsune had a point. Sighing in chagrin at the fact that the strange woman had actually managed to make him feel guilty, he picked up the two halves of the vase, frowning when he noticed blood.

_She cut her hands_, he realised, strangely upset at the notion.

"Kitsune," Sesshoumaru levelled Shippo with a look, as he held up the halves of the vase, "What is the significance of this?"

0-0-0

Kagome raised her bleeding hand above her head whimsically, laying out as she was flat on her back on the roof, the gesture made it seem as though she could catch the stars. The roof of their house was easily accessible from her bedroom's window, provided one knew that the third tile from the left was wobbly and provided that one was willing to tie their sleeves back in _sageo_ and tuck their kimono hem into their obi.

The cut on her hand smarted and she lamented the fact that in comic books, when one became immortal they healed faster, but not in her life. Oh no. Instead, not only would she live forever alone she would also live in pain. If it was life threatening, it tended to heal pretty damn fast actually, she'd once fallen off of Totosai's mountain – which had actually really hurt without being able to die – and gotten back up within minutes, but small ailments were ignored. Yet, some days, when she pricked herself on a knife in the kitchen or on one of Totosai's katana she was fascinated by the pooling of her blood. Even as an immortal she would still bleed, still feel pain and she clung to those fragments of humanity.

When Sesshoumaru floated up next to the roof on his youki-cloud, Kagome sat bolt upright and hastily reached for him, dragging him by his haori sleeves onto the roof.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, prodding him angrily in the chest, "What if the neighbours had seen you?"

"Inconsequential," Sesshoumaru decided, "they would have told themselves it was a figment of their imagination."

"Gah!" she threw her hands up into the air in exasperation, "You're impossible!"

"Hn, quite," Sesshoumaru murmured, handing her the newly repaired vase, "here."

She took it, a little bemused by the offering and clasped it to her chest tenderly.

Sesshoumaru looked away and Kagome wondered if he might be embarrassed, the thought brought a soft smile to her face. "Thank you."

"The Kitsune told me it was your mother's," he murmured, gazing moonward stoically.

"Yeah," Kagome smiled.

"Why did you not return to your family?"

Sinking down to lie back on the roof, she motioned for Sesshoumaru to join her, both pleased and surprised that he acquiesced.

"I love them," she admitted a sad, nostalgic look in her eyes, "But I live here and I don't want to go back and live with them for them to pass me off as Souta's younger sister, then a distant cousin and so on. It's easier for me to visit every now and then, easier on all of us."

"Hn," Sesshoumaru flicked a glance in her direction and took her hand unexpectedly. Kagome blushed at the sudden action and watched as Sesshoumaru scowled at the cut across her palm.

"I don't have superpowers of regeneration like you," she expounded, "unless it's life threatening."

"How... irksome."

"Pretty much."

Sesshoumaru brought her hand to her mouth and, almost curiously, tasted the blood. Kagome shivered as she felt his rough tongue over the abrasion and winced at the sting his actions conjured. Belatedly, she realised she'd just allowed Sesshoumaru to lick her.

Wait... wasn't he poisonous?

She snatched her hand back and looked at him, blue eyes wide.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded, one blush blending into the other.

Sesshoumaru looked at her from under his lashes, lips curving into a devious smirk. "To see what Miko tastes like."

Kagome's blush darkened, if that was possible and she blinked at him. "You're acting weird, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru inclined his head, conceding that point. "Mayhap it is because I detest being treated as a child."

Kagome rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "You were the one acting like a child."

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru rumbled, bending his head to inhale her scent at her pale throat, noticing with a primal satisfaction that she didn't push away this time.

"You're acting out of character tonight, then," she murmured.

"It's the full moon," he pointed out, "when primal desires are stronger."

"I don't understand," she tilted her head to one side bemusedly.

Sesshoumaru leaned in slowly and Kagome rocked backwards uncertainly, unnerved as he reached a hand out to cup her cheek.

_What is he going to do? _Those lips were getting closer and closer..._ Is he going to kiss me?_

Shippo's head peeked up from over the edge of the roof. "What are you two doing?"

And the pair of them sprung apart like teenagers caught doing something illicit. Shippo's eyes grew round and knowing.

"_Oh_!" he murmured, inflecting in a way that made Kagome's blush blinding.

A/N: This was written for Nisou Tenshi's Fourteen symbol challenge for the prompt peony. Hope you enjoyed it!


	5. Gone Fishing

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

**Gone Fishing**

Ever since the _incident_ on the roof top, Sesshoumaru had been blatantly ignoring Kagome and Kagome, befuddled and bemused and bashful about the entire thing, followed suit and pretended nothing had happened. This was harder than it would first appear considering they lived in the same house, ate dinner together and spent every Saturday cleaning the house together. It was made even more impossible by Shippo's constant vigilance and waggling eyebrows – something he'd inherited from Miroku.

Truth be told, Kagome was uncertain about what had happened. They'd bonded, shared some kind of moment and then Sesshoumaru had done something so bizarre that Kagome had half-convinced herself that she'd been hallucinating. Yet, she could still remember the warmth of his hand on her cheek. Had he been about to kiss her? She couldn't be sure thanks to Shippo and she was still unsure over whether she wanted to throttle the Kitsune or hug him from saving her from a situation that had sent her heart racing in a way it hadn't in centuries.

Kagome chewed the inside of her cheek and scowled, she'd always assumed Sesshoumaru would be as cold as his personality, but apparently he burned with his own intensity.

"Kagome-neechan?" Chouko sang as she slid to a stop on the grassy bank on the river. Kagome let out a little 'oof' as Chouko half-crashed into her.

Straightening out the picnic blanket, Kagome waited for Chouko to clamber on before she tucked the girl into her lap and rested her chin on Chouko's head.

Shippo and Sesshoumaru had claimed a flat rock that jutted out of the river bank and sat there with their lines in the river, Shippo's face glowing with a smug victory and Sesshoumaru scowling as he attempted to untangle his line without severing it with his carefully camouflaged claws.

The fishing trip had been Shippo's idea, eager as he was to best Sesshoumaru. It seemed that Inuyasha's competitiveness was something else that the Kitsune had picked up. As yet another line lost its life to Sesshoumaru's claws; Shippo launched into raucous laughter and got himself brutally elbowed from the metre high flat rock into the river for his troubles.

Taking pity on the mighty demon lord who couldn't untangle his tackle, Kagome shifted Chouko from her lap and went to kneel beside him. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened as she alleviated him of the line and he pursed his lips as she easily untangled it.

Chouko, who was clinging onto Sesshoumaru's braid like it was a guide rope, leaned over the edge of the rock fearlessly and cheered as Shippo floated leisurely across the surface of the river. For her delight, he squirted water from his mouth like some kind of whale and grinned cheerfully when she cheered.

Catching Chouko around the waist, Kagome towed her back onto the rock and settled her into her lap. "Be more careful," she schooled, "you don't want to get your new kimono wet."

Chouko rolled her eyes. "Shippo-oniichan is the one who jumped off the rock," she pointed out.

Shippo shouted from beneath them, "I was pushed!"

Sesshoumaru snorted. "If that is all it takes to throw you off balance then you are a disgrace to Kitsune everywhere."

Sensing the rising levels of youki, Kagome carefully held Chouko and jumped down from the rock into the river with an almighty splash that set Chouko shrieking and drenched Shippo.

Pushing saturated hair away from his eyes rakishly, Shippo rolled his eyes at Kagome's antics. "What are you doing Kagome-chan?"

Kagome laughed and hiked up her kimono in a highly unladylike fashion, though it was already pretty wet. "I'm going to catch fish the old fashioned way."

Chouko tilted her head to one side confusedly. "What do you mean?"

Kagome tossed a playful look at Shippo. "Do you remember? Inuyasha taught you how and even I picked it up."

Shippo chuckled nostalgically. "Yeah, his teaching methods left a lot to be desired though. I think he threw me into the rapids."

"Wasn't that to strengthen you up?" Kagome teased pulling at a soaking carroty lock of hair indulgently.

"I could have died," Shippo expounded dryly.

Sesshoumaru snorted again. "If you had actually drowned –"

Shippo cut him off with a wave of his hand, "Yeah, yeah, I'm not fit to be called a Kitsune. Don't you ever come up with any other insults?"

There was a sharp growl and Shippo childishly snipped the Daiyokai's line with his camouflaged claws.

A smile threatening to turn the corners of her mouth up, Kagome distracted Shippo before he could get up to any more mischief. "Shall we see if we can remember how to do this?" she asked, tying her sleeves back in _sageo_ preparedly.

Shippo cocked an eyebrow and, pulling his _sugegasa_ from around his neck back onto his head, he shot her a challenging look and tilted his _sugegasa_ at a business like angle. "You're on!"

Chouko waded over to the bank of the river and was hefted out by a Sesshoumaru and back up onto the rock beside him. Basking in the sun that was helping to dry her kimono, Chouko peered intently down at the fish capturing battle that was underway. Though such childishness would normally be beneath him, he was bored, and so Sesshoumaru found himself watching the strange play that was commencing in the river.

Though the two old friends were both doggedly determined to catch some fish with their bare hands, the fish were wise to their games and darted erratically as dragonflies beneath the surface of the water, evading capturing hands with ease.

"No claws!" Kagome scolded, prompting Shippo to pout petulantly.

The water play continued for a while, underhanded tactics creeping in as Shippo attempted to trip Kagome up and Kagome pulled his _sugegasa_ down over his eyes playfully. Rules developed, and Chouko, relishing the task of referee, made the two competitors stand a metre apart and threw grass at Shippo when his claws came out.

"Ha!" Kagome carolled, scooping a fish from the water with pre-emptive glee, the fish, not at all impressed by its kidnapping, wriggled and struggled and shot from her hands up into the air...

And straight into Sesshoumaru's lap.

Chouko shrieked, Kagome collapsed in laughter, Sesshoumaru growled and Shippo exclaimed in glee as he managed to snag his own fish, only to have Sesshoumaru fling Kagome's fish at him, causing the Kitsune to lose his prey.

"You are pathetic," Sesshoumaru informed Kagome as Shippo caught another fish and held it in the air triumphantly to the sound of Chouko's applause.

"I'd like to see you catch a fish with your bare hands," Kagome challenged, pushing drenched hair from her blue eyes.

An eyebrow quirked bemusedly. "You doubt me?"

Kagome waved an airy arm, relishing the return of this banter between them, "You're all talk. I bet you've never done manual work before... you always used to wear white, who could do anything in white?"

Left eye developing a tick, Sesshoumaru jumped down into the river with Kagome whilst Shippo lit a fire with his fox fire and set his fish to roast under Chouko's awed watch.

Kagome waded back, keeping wary eyes on the demon as he stared down into the water for a time before his hand darted out, fast as a lightning strike, and snagged a wiggling fish from the water.

"Nope," Kagome turned her hair to one side and stuck her nose in the air arrogantly, "that doesn't count."

Sesshoumaru dropped the fish and, well aware he was playing along with one of her childish games, countered with, "And why not?"

"You're a Daiyokai!" she disputed, prodding him in the shoulder. He watched her prod him, one eyebrow quirked in askance.

"I know," he replied wryly, capturing her finger in his fist and removing it from his chest gently.

Poking her tongue out, Kagome continued ponderously, "So that means... you should catch a fish with your hands tied behind your back!" she proposed ostentatiously.

Sesshoumaru blinked once, twice, three times and found his arms were already bound behind his back. Shooting a glare at the tricky Kitsune for his ridiculous magic, Sesshoumaru tested the enchanted bonds that the Kitsune had magiced out of nowhere and huffed his hair out of his eyes. It seemed they weren't going to give. Eyes narrowing at the challenging glint in Kagome's eyes, he doggedly turned his eyes back to the stream and glowered at the water; he'd wipe the disbelieving smirk off her face.

When he plunged his head into the water a second later, Kagome's facial expression melted into an awed expression of utter shock. However, when he resurfaced, flipping his long hair out of his face and spattering everyone in water, with a fish clamped between glistening white teeth, Kagome's expression of awe morphed into gales of laughter.

Shippo and Chouko soon joined in, Sesshoumaru's expression of haughty disapproval only adding fuel to the fire until they were clutching at their stomachs as they cried with laughter.

It seemed Sesshoumaru was full of unpredictable behaviour tonight.

The braying of a suspiciously familiar cow brought them from their convulsive laughter and they spun in unison to stare at Totosai who sat atop Momo, eyes wide and lips pursed.

"Never thought I'd see the day you'd get wet willingly, pup," the old sword smith informed Sesshoumaru, blithely digging ear wax out of one of his ears, "you were terrified of lakes when you were smaller... might have had something to do with me dropping you in one that time actually," Totosai exclaimed in the way of one who'd just had a great epiphany.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed dangerously and Kagome snorted.

"I used to wonder why he hated you so much," she muttered, rolling her eyes, "I guess I know why now."

Totosai shot her a reproachful look. "Me and Momo were only teaching him how to fly!" he protested injured at the assumption.

Yet, as Sesshoumaru growled dangerously at the oblivious Totosai, Kagome's chest tightened. Did this mean that Sesshoumaru would leave now? A sharp pain flashed through her heart and she pressed a hand to her chest as she looked forlornly at the back of Sesshoumaru's head.

He would... leave?

Why did the notion hurt so much?

Kagome turned away quickly and went to untie Sesshoumaru's wrists from Shippo's little prank as a distraction, her loose hair falling in her face to hide her saddened expression. The bonds proved surprisingly stubborn though and she grumbled as she attempted to loosen the knots.

Sesshoumaru, though he maintained a steady glare directed at Totosai, inhaled deeply, strangely perturbed by the scent of sadness that clung to her skin caressingly. Always, always, she had always scented happily. A light and pleasing scent of an optimist... so what was it that dampened her scent in such a way?

Totosai's eyebrows shot up amusedly as, with a waggle of Shippo's eyebrows, the ropes unravelled only to bind more tightly. Only this time, the magical ropes bound them together.

"Shippo!" Kagome bit out harshly, voice slightly mumbled as her face was pressed to Sesshoumaru's back.

"Aren't you two close?" Totosai mumbled, rubbing his chin contemplatively, "This explains a lot..."

Kagome yanked her face away from Sesshoumaru's back long enough to shoot Totosai an incredulous look before she slammed back into Sesshoumaru's back thanks to the elastic recoil of the bonds. She groaned and Sesshoumaru shot Totosai a warning growl.

"Keep quiet, fool."

Totosai blinked belligerently.

"You swore it."

Totosai blinked again and stared intently into Sesshoumaru's eyes for a long time. And then he dug his finger in his ear in search of any stray earwax. "I did?"

Shippo and Chouko, who were by this time chewing amicably on the grilled fish, giggled at the spectacle the others were making of themselves.

"Yes." Sesshoumaru bit out between gritted teeth. This old coot was working on his last nerve. Having a Miko pressed so intimately against his back also wasn't helping him keep his patience. Hands clenched into fists.

And then Kagome exploded.

Sesshoumaru's back went ramrod straight as he felt her immense spiritual presence flood the area around them, but it wasn't after him. Instead, the ropes disintegrated and Kagome whirled on Shippo, eyes narrowed dangerously. Shippo grinned and wiggled a piece of fish at her.

"I was just playing!"

Totosai, paying no mind to anyone else, blithely continued on with Sesshoumaru's conversation. "So I suppose you'll be running off again now?"

Kagome froze and Sesshoumaru swept his hair from his eyes as he waded to the riverbank.

"Do not presume to know what I will do," Sesshoumaru sniffed.

Kagome's painfully thudding heart clenched at his words and she slowly relaxed. Hope seeped in and made roots. And she smiled.

A/N: This was written for Nisou Tenshi's Fourteen symbol challenge for the prompt dragonfly. Hope you enjoyed it!


	6. The Dog and the Tortoise

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

**The Dog and the Tortoise**

Kagome's worry, which had been prompted by Totosai's sudden reappearance from deep in the mountains, seemed to have been misplaced as Sesshoumaru continued to dwell within their rickety house. Coexistence was a little harder given the added influence of an obliviously antagonising old man and a cow that ate shoji screens if you left it alone for five minutes, but somehow they managed to live together in slightly pitchy harmony.

Kagome, who was gazing longingly at the beautiful pastries being shown on a television program, missed it entirely when Sesshoumaru, who had discarded his haori and under haori after his workout, entered the room. Subsequently, when he pressed a peach to her forehead, she jumped from her seat, hissing like a startled cat and glowered at him.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she demanded, clutching one hand to the neck of her kimono.

"You are immortal," he pointed out blandly, "and it is not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant."

Pursing her lips, her gaze dropped to his bare torso and she quickly diverted her gaze, blushing terribly.

"Your virginal embarrassment is ridiculous," Sesshoumaru commented blandly as he wiped his face on the towel he'd slung over his shoulders.

Kagome bit her lip and tossed her hair. "Shut up."

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in surprise, there was no way... was there?

Before he could even think about phrasing such an intrusive question, she'd left the room, leaving only the lingering scent of faint attraction and embarrassment behind her. Following her out of the room nimbly, he almost walked into her back when she stopped short at the sight of the suitcases piled up in the genkan.

Kagome turned startled blue eyes beseechingly upon him. "You said you weren't going!"

She sounded so heartbroken that it startled him into silence for a time before he finally wrested control of his voice box. "I'm not."

Kagome frowned. "Shippo doesn't have that much stuff," she postulated, pressing her index finger to her bottom lip musingly, "And Totosai only just got home... so who's leaving?"

"Not leaving, chickadee," an old raspy voice interrupted as a man, unnoticed up until he had spoken, rose from his seat. The folds of his grey kimono moved dustily and his large eyes were droopy in his wrinkled, creased face. He held the overall appearance of a wrinkled grey bed sheet.

Kagome's face blossomed into wreathes of smiles. "Chikao-ojiisan!"

0-0-0

Tea was poured by an enthusiastic, yet easily distracted Kagome – Sesshoumaru discovered this to his expense when she accidentally poured tea over his hand instead of into the cup – as they sat around the table on their zabuton and the old tortoise demon Chikao and Totosai played a lethargic game of shogi.

"Even though," Chikao began drowsily, edges of his rather large white moustache quivering at his ever breath, "I'm not built to be travelling such distances, I decided to come and visit."

Kagome nodded distractedly at Chikao as she carefully wrapped Sesshoumaru's scalded hand in bandages. He'd told her it didn't hurt and to not waste her bandages on a wound that would be gone in a matter of minutes, but she was used to people refusing aid and could be bull headedly insistent.

Chikao's rather large eyes twinkled in amusement as he blithely continued. "But it is nice to see you again, Kagome-chan."

Kagome smiled and took a sip of her tea, Sesshoumaru mirroring her at his place at her side.

"But I never fancied you'd get yourself a Yokai suitor without consulting me!"

Kagome choked on her tea in an effort not to spit it out all over the shogi board and Sesshoumaru's eyebrow twitched as he patted her on her back in a put upon manner. Eventually, once she'd regained the use of her lungs, Kagome waved frantically at the amused looking Chikao.

"Sesshoumaru and I... we're not... like that!" she blustered, blushing furiously.

Sesshoumaru took another sip of his tea and continued to stare straight forward blankly.

Chikao beamed happily. "Oh, you mustn't misunderstand chickadee, I'm not angry. It is good for you to have someone who will be as long lived as you!"

Kagome's blood threatened to make her light pink kimono blush in sympathy by this point. "No, no, Chikao-ojiisan, you're misunderstanding completely!"

"Especially someone like Sesshoumaru," Chikao continued on without a care in the world, seemingly unaware or unconcerned over the fact that Totosai had fallen asleep across half of the shogi board as he calmly moved his pawn. "His samurai like vigour is a trait that is most admirable and rare nowadays. Unlike all this weak willed humans he has strength to protect," he mused whimsically.

Letting out a little moue of distress, Kagome turned her beseeching gaze upon the vacant looking Sesshoumaru. "Say something!" she commanded, voice an embarrassed hiss.

"More tea, please," he muttered, thrusting the tea cup at her. That was not the kind of something she had wanted. Woodenly, she took it from him and poured him the tea. Why was Sesshoumaru behaving like this? Did he not mind that Chikao had taken them as a couple? But, then again, she supposed Sesshoumaru had never been one to care for how others perceived him.

Sesshoumaru's hand closing around her wrist nearly gave her a heart attack, but she soon realised that, whilst she had been daydreaming, she'd also forgotten to stop pouring tea. It had overflowed his teacup and created a small puddle on the wooden surface. Flustered, she allowed Sesshoumaru to rearrange her, mop it up and pour her another cup of tea. The twitch of his mouth gave him away and, with a jolt, Kagome realised that he wasn't correcting Chikao because he was enjoying teasing her. The jerk. Dainty hands clenched into fists and she shot him an acerbic look that bounced straight off his stoic facade.

The exact moment when Kagome figured out that he was teasing her was profoundly obvious, her virginal blushes made way to red cheeks of impotent rage. Really, though he was teasing her to a certain extent, he was also testing. It was strangely pleasing to realise that her blushes at the insinuations meant that she did feel something for him. Even if she didn't want to admit it. Humans were strange like that. They hid from their own emotions. Though Sesshoumaru was taciturn to a fault, he could confess to his own emotions in the privacy of his own mind quite freely. Out loud was a different matter all together. But he refused to be a coward and not face his own emotions. That was a ridiculous notion.

"If you'll excuse me," she groused, jumping to her feet and flicking a fiery glance at Sesshoumaru which was parried effortlessly with Sesshoumaru's icy stare, "I have to start dinner."

With that, she flicked her hair disdainfully and stalked off into the kitchen.

Chikao chuckled, his breath wheezing as he carefully sipped at his tea. "You'll have your hands full with that one."

"Hn," Sesshoumaru uttered noncommittally, shooting Totosai a distasteful look as the old coot began to snore.

Pinning Sesshoumaru with a rather sharp look from those large watery eyes of his, Chikao continued on blithely, "Kagome's magic, her purity depends on her happiness, having you here seems to be giving her back some of the vigour I was beginning to fear she had lost to the loneliness of time."

Sesshoumaru's gaze darted to the woman pottering about in the kitchen. "Human's are frail."

"And dogs value pack," Chikao countered, "Kagome is not the only one feeling lonely."

Eyes narrowing at the implication of weakness, Sesshoumaru stuck his nose in the air snootily. "You are a fool."

"You will be the fool if you let her fall through your grasp Sesshoumaru," Chikao schooled sternly, eyebrows smashing together on his wrinkled brow, "slow and steady will not win this race," and then the old tortoise broke off into a round of wheezy chuckling, "but then you never were slow."

Tuning the old man out, Sesshoumaru's gaze wandered back to Kagome, who bumbled around the kitchen haphazardly and he watched as she somehow managed to spill water all over the floor and had to bend down to mop it up. She was pathetically clumsy really, a far way away from a creature of perfection such as him.

Surely though, he should be irked by her lack of finesse, by her bumbling incompetence. So why then was he feeling strangely endeared by it?

Could Chikao be right?

This required closer scrutiny.

A/N: This was written for Nisou Tenshi's Fourteen symbol challenge for the prompt carp. Hope you enjoyed it!


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